International Encyclopedia of Public Policy and Administration - Vol. 2

tion. He claims that what may appear to be a contradiction
on the surface, of recentralizing while appearing to be decentralizing, is not so much a contradiction -- it only appears that way. Rather, it is indicative of a new regulative
mode-one that is characterized by a quest by governments
to reduce expenditure and wind back the welfare state, in a
context where the placatory rhetoric is one of "choice,"
"ownership," and "partnership" (p. 231). In Britain this has
taken fullest expression in the Educational Reform Act
( 1988), where the education system has been restructured
"along the lines of a market, free and unfettered by state intervention" (p. 234). This tendency can take various forms:
"free-standing" educational institutions (held in place by
national curriculum and testing); "charter schools" (that
enter into formal agreements with central agencies and obtain funding conditional upon achieving targets); "local
support models" (with tight central control and devolution
of resources); and "recentralization models" (the retention
of some semblance of a national system, tightly regulated
at various levels).

In sum, the planning and implementation of education policy worldwide is coming to be characterized by
modes of regulation that represent sharp breaks with the
recent past. As Fraser ( 1989) expressed it, we have "pseudoautonomy in the conditions of pseudo-symmetry" (p. 49)
in the contexts which are represented in Hartley ( 1994)
terms as "choice, diversity and ownership" (p. 242), except
that they fall far short of the authentic meaning attaching
to those terms.

National Commission on Excellence in Education, 1983. A Nation at Risk: The Imperative for Educational Reform. Washington, D.C.

EDUCATION AID. Financial assistance, generally
in the form of an intergovernmental grant, provided by
state governments to local school districts in the United
States, often to alleviate inequities between school
districts.

Educational aid provided by state governments to
local school districts represents one of the major sources
for funding of public education in the United States. In 1991, state governments raised over $100 billion in revenue for education, close to 50 percent of national spending on education. State education assistance has been
growing steadily in importance during the last century (see Table 1). Besides its importance, state education aid has
been the center of a continuing controversy over the reform of school finance in the United States. In the last two
decades, scores of lawsuits have been filed against state
governments challenging the equity of state school finance
systems. Changes in school aid distribution are often the
outcomes of this litigation.

History of State Education Aid

The role of state governments in the financing of public
education has evolved over the history of the United
States. Until the middle of the nineteenth century, schools
were primarily private and religious institutions. Due in
part to efforts of education reformers, such as Horace
Mann and Henry Barnard, publicly supported common
schools became the educational norm by the beginning of
the twentieth century. However, financial and curriculum
decisions remained principally in the hands of local school
boards. In 1920, over 80 percent of education revenue
came from local governments (Table 1). What state assistance was provided to local school districts was in the form
of a flat grant per pupil. The role of the federal government
in financing schools was practically nonexistent until the 1930s.

TABLE I.

GROWTH IN EDUCATIONAL EXPENDITURES AND CHANGES IN
SOURCES OF EDUCATION REVENUES

PERCENT DISTRIBUTION OF EDUCATION REVENUE BY
LEVEL OF GOVERNMENT

Year

Real expenditures per
pupil ( 1992-93 dollars)

Federal

State

Local

1919-20

478

0.3

16.5

83.2

1929-30

903

0.4

16.9

82.7

1939-40

1,078

1.8

30.3

68.0

1949-50

1,567

2.9

39.8

57.3

1959-60

2,285

4.4

39.1

56.5

1969-70

3,603

8.0

39.9

52.1

1979-80

4,573

9.8

46.8

43.4

1990-91

6,249

6.2

47.3

46.5

SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education,
National Center for Education Statistics,Digest of Education Statistics, 1993, Tables 156 and 165.

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